“In 2022, Americans lost more money to investment fraud than any other type.”

From WealthManagement.com, on July 1, 2023

The 20 States With the Most Investment Fraud | Wealth Management  The article reports this sobering fact: “In 2022, Americans lost more money to investment fraud than any other type.” So, when you see us sometimes refer to a “too often predatory and corrupt financial service marketplace,” you can now see why.  Any predatory and corrupt behavior toward individual investors is “too often” to us.

Again, quoting from the article: “According to the Federal Trade Commission, there was a record $3.82 billion stolen through investment fraud in 2022, a 128% increase from $1.67 billion in 2021.” These are astounding numbers. Unfortunately, they reflect harm that has actually been suffered by individual investors. This is why we continue to emphasize the fact that regulations and regulatory “oversight” of the financial services marketplace cannot be counted on to protect you from this type of harm.

You can find out more “in a recently released study, “The 2023 State of Investment Fraud,” Carlson Law, an investment fraud law firm, analyzed the most recent data from the FBI Internet Crime Report (2022) and the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book (2022)” and, for a broad overview, you can visit Violation Tracker, which we have spoken about in other portions of our site.

The Bottom Line:  We believe the best protection is self-protection. Virtually all harm to individual investors involves conflicts of interest. Certainly, those committing outright “fraud” are placing their interests ahead of yours.  But conflicts of interest are much more widespread and damaging than just outright fraud. They can affect virtually every investment recommendation you’re getting.  Rita℠ was specifically designed to give you the power to comparatively evaluate investment choices your way and, most importantly, in a way that effectively filters out all conflicts of interest.  We hope you use it.